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ERNEST WARBURTON SHURTLEFF 

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“ PEACE BE UNTO YOU." 



FEB 20 1885 



I 



W7* 


BOSTON 

CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO 
The Old Corner Bookstore 
283 Washington St 




COPYRIGHT. 

CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO. 


THE EASTER DREAM. 


I dreamed the storms veiled Easter morn with mist 
I dreamed a glory through the darkness shone; 
And lo! a rainbow, bright as amethyst, 

Rose in the East around Jehovah’s throne. 

It seemed as though from some fair Heaven brisrht 
A peal of music, beautiful and grand, 

Had turned its echo to a path of light, 

To lead earth's pilgrim to the promised land. 

It seemed as though the feet of Christ, divine, 

Had walked the clouds, like waves of Galilee, 

And left their prints of joy and peace to shine 
Like moonbeams resting on a sleeping sea. 

“What is the meaning of this light?” I cried. 
Methought I stood alone, but as I turned 
I saw an angel waiting by my side, . 

L T pon whose brow a crown of glory burned. 

His robe hung white as snow about his breast. 

The words fell sweet as blossoms from his tongue. 
And round his form a sense of peace and rest, 

Like fragrance round a gentle flower, hung. 


( 3 ) 



He raised his hand and pointed to the skies, 

Where on the gloom the arching rainbow smiled 
I lifted to the sight my tearful eyes, 

And heard him speak with holy wisdom mild. 

“ O grieving mortal, put away thy fears, 

And let thy face with hope and gladness shine ! 
Thy mournful eyes will brighten in thy tears 

When thou hast learned to trust in Love Divine. 

“ Once Jesus died, and on His holy brow 

11 is mother, Mary, pressed the last long kiss 
Once He went down to bitter death, but now 
He makes that other life the crown of this ! 

“ O sad one, shalt thou fear to lay thy head 

On that cold pillow where His brow was laid? 
Or when thy loved ones sleep on that low bed, 
Shalt thou forget His power and stand dismayed 

“No! lift thy tearful face to Heaven and sing! 

And call no more thy loved with grieving breath 
Let Easter to thy life its promise bring,— 

Life, like a rainbow, spans the cloud of death!'’ 

“Is this the meaning of yon light?” I cried. 

“Yea, let its joy within thy soul be born!" 

I woke. The angel vanished from my side; 

But fail* in heaven shone the Easter morn. 


( 4 ? 


LIGHT. 


Lift up your heads, ye sorrowful ! Behold, 

The dawn of Easter floods the hills with flame ! 

The sun burns like the light of God’s great name, 

Where heaven’s blue courts are flushed with blushing gold. 
Let day break in thy heart and be consoled ! 

Oh, let no more the night thy gladness claim. 

Let Hope arise from out thy doubt and shame, 

As Christ, from death, rose glorified of old. 

Thy spirit is a breathing of thy God, 

Pulsating in its chrysalis of clay. 

The dust that tires thy feet that onward plod 
Is of the night, but thou art of the day. 

Oh, let henceforth that day from Him grow fair, 

And thou shalt hold an inner Easter there! 



SUBMISSION. 


Teach me, O Lord, to bear my cross and sing. 

My spirit’s eyes are blind with mortal fate ! 

Yet through the closed lids shines a light so great 
It makes my soul for joy within me spring. 

I could not bear it all now, O my King ! 

Teach me to trust Thy wisdom and to wait, 

For when I enter at Thy heavenly gate, 

Then I shall see life’s mysteries blossoming. 

I know not now why men must sigh and weep, 

Why hearts must bleed; but oh, since I am blind, 
Why do I strive to read vast meanings deep, 

And enter paths too lofty for my mind ? 

Teach me to hold Thy hand till I can see; 

Thou guidest stars—my soul is safe with Thee. 


( 6 ) 



FAITH. 


// 


I HEARD a voice speak softly in my soul, 

As sweetly as a bluebird’s note of prayer 
Breathes in the woodlands on the sunset air,— 

I listened, and deep peace upon me stole. 

“ I am the angel that hath come to roll 

From thy dumb heart its weight too hard to bear, 
That Christ may rise within thee, and make fair 
Thy life with joy, and all thy mind console.” 

Then to the angel, in my soul, I said,— 

“ Who art thou, that my tongue may bless thy peace ? 
Art thou not Hope that lifteth up my head, 

And biddest in my heart the turmoil cease ? 

Or art thou Mercy’s form or gentle wraith ? ” 

“Nay, I am more,” the voice said; “I am Faith." 


(7) 



ADORATION. 


What countless stars, O Lord, behold Thy face! 

Lo! night hs filled with multitudes that wait, 

And gaze in rapture through Thy glory’s gate, 

With brows made dazzling from outpouring grace. 

The 'morning sun in his eternal place 

Is bright with gazing on Thy kingly state, 

O Thou, whose hands immortal things create, 

And people heaven with an angel race! 

The aged hills are beautiful with Thee ; 

The flowers lift up sweet tongues to breathe Thy love. 
O Lord, shall I alone be blind to see 

What countless eyes behold, below, above ? 

No, for a heavenly instinct teaches me— 

My soul in Thee finds refuge like a dove ! 



TRUST. 


* 


I faltered in the storm and gloom, and prayed 
That I might touch the hand of Christ, and know 
His might to lead me from my doubt and woe: 
But when my fingers, trembling and afraid, 

Upon His gentle, loving palm were laid, 

I felt the prints that let His life’s blood flow 
In Calvary’s dark tumult, years ago, 

When heaven grew black and Pilate stood dismayed. 

But when I gazed upon His face, I cried, 

“Oh, beautiful !” and bowed my head in shame. 
Now never more my soul, dissatisfied, 

Shall doubt because my pilgrim feet are lame. 

But I shall hear His footsteps at my side, 

And on my heavy cross shall shine His name 


9/ 



PEACE. 


Dark Night wears bright stars in her raven hair; 

So Death shines with the light of spirits blest 
Whose loving hands on earth our hands have pressed, 
And who, in rising from this worldly care, 

Left on the gloom, like stars, their memories there. 

Is there a loved one in those bourns of rest, 

Whose head on earth hath lain upon thy breast? 

Now shall that brow its Saviour’s bosom share. 

And oh, how shouldst thou thank Thy Lord because 
Thou art akin to angels, whose bright feet 
Have lit the way of death that gloomy was, 

And who with songs fill night with music sweet! 

Now wilt thou fear no more to pass that way 
Since through the darkness thou shalt find the day. 




THE FROST OF SORROW. 


I roamed a valley where the wintry blast 

llacl sered and locked the barren ground with frost; 
And bitterly I mourned for beauty lost, 

And all the glory of the summer past, 

Considering not how Nature’s treasures last 

While earth grows cold and seas are tempest tossed, 
Nor how beneath the very path I crossed 
Lay countless seeds for budding spring amassed. 

O man ! if sorrow chills thy spirit now, 

And like a winter lays thy pathway bare, 

Fear not! joys sow their seeds like flowers, and thou 
Shalt hold through winter, charms for spring to wear. 
Ope but thy soul to God, and lo! His brow 

Shall shine within and wake the blossoms there ! 



SONG OF SOLACE. 


Here let me lift my simple song 
To breathe that God is good, 

And leaveth not that people long 
Who trust His Fatherhood. 

Remember, eyes made blind with tears 
Read not His ways aright. 

Be patient, morning always nears 
Through vistas of the night. 

Bow not above the loved one’s rest 
With such a dumb despair, 

As though ye thought the soul ye blest 
In silence lingered there. 

Ye cannot clasp with arms of dust, 

The shining form above, 

But ye can leave all in His trust, 
Whose other name is Love. 

In yon blue zenith, all unseen, 

The star ye saw last night 

Is shining still in peace serene 

Though veiled by day’s great light; 





And so the gentle life ye mourn, 

Though vanished like the star, 

Lives on where brighter day is born, 

And clearer heavens are. 

So sweet is death to him who dies, 

He cannot bear return 
To break the holy, glad surprise, 

That ye may wait apd learn. 

Then lift your trust to yon fair sky ! 

Have faith in God’s great will; 

And know that though all else should die, 
His love would fold thee still! 


(13) 


I 


PRESENCE. 


Full of rest the western breeze 
Makes its music through the trees, 
Thou canst feel its breathing warm, 
But thine eyes behold no form. 

In thine inner consciousness 
Thou canst feel the sweet caress 
Of thy Maker’s constant care. 
Wilt thou doubt because thine eyes 
View no splendid vision rise, 
Glorifying all the air? 



HIS FOOTSTEP. 


Hark! down the ages, from the Holy Land, 

The sound of Jesus’ feet methinks I hear, 

Tn music-breathing echoes drawing near— 

Hark! ’tis an heavenly cadence sweet and grand! 
Peace, heart! He doth already by thee stand. 

That music is His whisper in thine ear, 

For not in far Jerusalem, but here 
He walketh, by thy side, with healing hand. 

O Bethany, was thine a peace more sweet, 

When mid thine olive groves, by Martha’s door, 
He lifted weeping Mary from His feet,— 

And gave her Lazarus back to life once more ? 
Was thine a peace more sweet than that which now 
Makes glad my soul as at those feet I bow ? 



GUARDIAN ANGELS. 




I dreamed a chorus from the choirs divine 
Drew singing round the pillow where I slept. 

My sleep grew bright, as though a star had crept 
From night’s untroubled bosom into mine, 

In consolation through my soul to shine. 

All day my heart its loneliness had wept, 

Not dreaming hosts of holy angels kept 
Such faithful vigils round my life’s poor shrine. 

So turning to the heavenly throng 1 said, 

“Doth God send such kind eyes to watch o’er me? 
And when I, faltering, bow my weary head, 

Do bright ones bless me, whom I cannot see ? ” 

The answering chorus broke through chords of praise— 
“ He gives His angels charge o’er all thy ways ! ” 


(16) 



EASTER SUNSHINE. 


O blessed sunshine ! Living peace of God ! 

That with great glory fillest earth and air, 

And pourest peace on all things good and fair, 

On every flower that blushes from the sod,— 

Thou seemest like a dazzling angel, shod 

With beauty, in whose locks of gleaming hair, 

Eve’s rosy colors twine like blossoms rare, 

Where rainbow paths by ghost-like mists are trod. 

Thou art like Christ—light of the soul’s sweet day! 

Whose presence wakes the life to joys untold, 

Thou art .like Heaven, where sweet-lipped children play, 
And dear friends meet that parted were of old, 

Or like the hand of God, for from the skies 
'Thou wipest clouds, like tears from grieving eves ! 


» 


17/ 



THERE IS NO DEATH. 


There is no death save in the dust that dies. 

The soul was made immortal as the skies. 

Go mourner, read it from the stars enrolled 
On night’s blue page, like blazing words of gold 
That burn through ages, beautiful and wise. 

Go read it where the eastern glories rise, 

And morning, like a stately eagle, flies 
Up, up with flaming pinions aureoled— 

There is no death ! 

Go read it where sweet Peace, with dreaming eyes, 
Couched on the sunset, like a shepherd lies, 

And tends the bright cloud-flocks of evening’s fold 
On every side shalt thou the truth behold. 

Life, like an angel, walks the earth and cries— 

“ There is no death ! ” 



TRANSFORMATION. 


The soul of Christ burst through the brightened tomb, 
And dawned in heavenly spaces infinite, 

As yonder sun, crowned with the splendid light 
Of God’s own smile, bursts through the orient gloom, 
The boundlessness of ether to illume. 

He made death beautiful, as lie made bright 
The ebon brow of shadow-hooded Night 
With stars that round her face like flowers bloom. 

He turned death into life. There was no place 
For death where He, the Prince of Life, passed by; 
As when the morning lifts to God its face, 

There is no place for darkness in the sky. 

Fear thou not death. It is thine own poor clay 
That blinds thee when thou would’st behold His day. 




COMFORT. 


When thou art sad and weary of the way 

Then ope thy soul to heaven, and, on hushed wing 1 
Peace, like a dove, shall enter there, and bring 
The consolation of immortal dav. 

J 

And countless joys, like birds with voices gay, 

Shall flutter through thy heart and coo and sing, 
Till all thy life with heavenliness shall ring, 

And on thy face shall shine Hope’s holy ray. 


When thou art lonely look up to thy Lord, 

And He will send a glad thought to thy mind 
That, like an angel with a flaming sword, 

Shall guard thy life; and trouble there shall find 
No entrance, but shall flee away and leave 
Thy soul its Saviour’s footsteps to receive ! 



THE GARMENT’S HEM. 


I THINK the sunshine is Christ's garment-hem; 

For when I reach my weary hand to clutch 
Those shining folds of pleasantness, so much 
Of heavenly virtue issues forth from them 
I bow, half fearful lest my Lord condemn 
That I should gather at that eager touch 
So much of life, who am not worthy such, 

But like a weed, shame-drooping on its stem. 

Yet in His gentleness He will not chide, 

Nor draw away that robe of shining gold 
From my lame hands, with look of angered pride. 

He turns to me as unto her of old; 

Sweet echoes of past ages thrill my 'soul — 

Hush ! Jesus speaks—“ Thy faith hath made thee whole I'' 


(21) 



EASTER CAROL. 


Lift up your heads, ye happy throngs, 

And let your hearts be filled with light! 
The Lord of Easter hears your songs, 

And loves to see your faces bright. 
Rejoice! and let His glory make 
The path you tread a pleasant way! 

Oh let His risen beauty break 
Upon your lives like Easter day. 

CHORUS. 

Hallelujah! sound His praises! 

Hallelujah! Sing His might! 

Death is put away for ever, 

Christ is risen in glory bright! 

There’s not a soul on earth that sighs, 

But what the Lord hath power to heal : 
He rose from death that we might rise, 
And in our lives His presence feel. 
Eternal life shall make us glad, 

If we His gentle words obey. 

Shall pain or trouble leave us sad 
When such a hope fills Easter day? 

Chorus— Hallelujah, etc. 


(22) 



Awake, fair flowers, the Spring is here! 

Return, sweet birds, from southern climes! 
Sing on, cool brooks, that babble clear! 

Peal on, glad bells, your Easter chimes! 
Let hope and trust fill every voice, 

Let sunlight gladden every way, 

And let the whole wide world rejoice 
And praise the Lord on Easter day. 

Chorus. —Hallelujah, etc. 


(23) 


CONTENTS. 


The Easter Dream,., . 3 

Light,.5 

Submission, ............ 6 

Faith, ..7 

Adoration, ............ 8 

Trust,.'9 

Peace, ............. 10 

The Frost of Sorrow, .......... 11 

Song of Solace, ......... 12 

Presence, ............ 14 

His Footstep,. 15 

Guardian Angels,.16 

Easter Sunshine, . ........ 17 

There is no Death, .......... 18 

Transformation,. 19 

Comfort, ............ 20 

The Garment’s Hem, .......... 21 

Easter Carol,. .22 

























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